Minnesota Tax Court Reduces Valuation of Lake Superior Property

An 82-acre parcel along Lake Superior must be valued as if it weren’t encumbered by a conservation easement, and it would be worth far less if it were subdivided into six residential lots, the Minnesota Tax Court ruled.

Karl and Elizabeth Johansson convinced Judge Jane N. Bowman that adjusted comparable sales lead to valuations an average of $908,500 less than Lake County’s assessments of the property for tax years 2021 to 2024.

Since 2013, Minnesota assessors can’t reduce a property’s value because of the existence of a conservation easement. The legislature made the change so that local government budgets wouldn’t ...